Farmer in the Sky

Farmer In The Sky is a 1953 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about a teenage boy who emigrates with his family to Jupiter's moon Ganymede, which is in the process of being terraformed. A condensed version of the novel was published in serial form in 1950 in Boys' Life magazine (August, September, October, November), under the title "Satellite Scout".

The Star Beast: Heinlein's Juveniles, Book 8

Lummox has been the pet of the Stuart family for generations. With eight legs, a thick hide, and increasingly large size, Lummox is nobody's idea of man's best friend. Nevertheless, John Stuart XI, descendant of the starman who originally brought Lummox back to Earth, loves him. But when Lummox eats a neighbor's car and begins to grow again, the feds decide that enough is enough.

Space Cadet

Matt Dodson arrives at Space Academy little prepared for the rigorous program he is about to enter. But that’s the point of the academy: to take young men and steep them in a demanding tradition of honor, courage, and sacrifice until they have earned the right to join the Patrol as guardians of the solar peace. Unfortunately, even the academy’s high power training can’t completely prepare Matt and his friends Tex and Oscar for the harrowing test of both survival and diplomatic skills they will face when a mission goes disastrously wrong.

Citizen of the Galaxy

In a distant galaxy of colonized planets, the atrocity of slavery is alive and well. Young Thorby was just another bedraggled orphan boy sold at auction, but his new owner, Baslim, is not the disabled beggar he appears to be. Adopting Thorby as his son, Baslim fights relentlessly as an abolitionist spy. When the authorities close in on Baslim, Thorby must find his own way in a hostile galaxy. Joining with the Free Traders, a league of merchant princes, Thorby must find the courage to live by his wits and fight his way up from society's lowest rung.

Starman Jones

Max Jones, a practical, hard-working young man, found his escape in his beloved astronomy books. When reality comes crashing in and his troubled home life forces him out on the road, Max finds himself adrift in a downtrodden land - until an unexpected, ultimate adventure carries him away as a stowaway aboard an intergalactic spaceship.

The Door into Summer

Dan Davis, an electronics engineer, had finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot that could do almost anything. Wild success was within reach, but then Dan's life was ruined. In a plot to steal his business, his greedy partner and greedier fiancée tricked him into taking the "long sleep": suspended animation for 30 years.

Red Planet

Jim Marlowe and his strange-looking Martian friend, Willis, are allowed to travel only so far. But one day Willis unwittingly tunes in to a treacherous plot that threatens all the colonists on Mars, and it sets Jim off on a terrifying adventure that could save - or destroy - them all.

Methuselah's Children

After the fall of the American Ayatollahs as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land and chronicled in Revolt in 2100, the United States of America at last fulfills the promise inherent in its first Revolution: for the first time in human history there is a nation with Liberty and Justice for All. No one may seize or harm the person or property of another, or invade his privacy, or force him to do his bidding. Americans are fiercely proud of their re-won liberties and the blood it cost them; nothing could make them forswear those truths they hold self-evident. Nothing except the promise of immortality…

Have Space Suit - Will Travel

First prize in the Skyway Soap slogan contest was an all-expenses-paid trip to the moon. The consolation prize was an authenticspace suit, and when scientifically minded high school senior Kip Russell wonit, he knew for certain he would use it one day to make a sojourn of his own tothe stars. But "one day" comes sooner than he thinks when he tries the suit on in his backyard - and finds himself worlds away, a prisoner aboard a space pirate's ship.

Time for the Stars

Travel to other planets is now a reality, and with overpopulation stretching the resources of Earth, the necessity of finding habitable worlds is growing ever more urgent. There’s a problem though—because the spaceships are slower than light, any communication between the exploring ships and Earth would take years.

Tom and Pat are identical twin teenagers. As twins they’ve always been close, so close that it seemed like they could read each other’s minds.

Glory Road

. C. “Scar” Gordon was on the French Riviera recovering from a tour of combat in Southeast Asia, but he hadn’t given up his habit of scanning the personals in the newspaper. One ad in particular leapt out at him: "Are you a coward? This is not for you. We badly need a brave man. He must be 23 to 25 years old, in perfect health, at least six feet tall, weigh about 190 pounds, fluent English with some French, proficient with all weapons, some knowledge of engineering and mathematics essential...."

Farnham's Freehold

Hugh Farnham is a practical, self-made man, and when he sees the clouds of nuclear war gathering, he builds a bomb shelter under his house, hoping for peace and preparing for war. But when the apocalypse comes, something happens that he did not expect. A thermonuclear blast tears apart the fabric of time and hurls his shelter into a world with no sign of other human beings.

Rocket Ship Galileo

Ross Jenkins, Art Mueller, and Morris Abrams are not your average high-school students. While other kids are cruising around in their cars or playing ball, this trio, known as the Galileo Club, is experimenting with rocket fuels. Art's uncle, the nuclear physicist Dr. Donald Cargraves, offers them the opportunity of a lifetime: to construct and crew a rocket that will take them to the moon. But there are those who don't share their dream and who will stop at nothing to keep their rocket grounded.

The Man Who Sold the Moon

Today the moon - tomorrow the stars. The Man Who Sold the Moon: A landmark volume in Heinlein’s magnificent Future History series. D. D. Harriman is a billionaire with a dream: the dream of Space for All Mankind. The method? Anything that works. Maybe, in fact, Harriman goes too far. But he will give us the stars....

Time Enough for Love: The Lives of Lazarus Long

Time Enough for Love is the capstone and crowning achievement of Heinlein's famous Future History series. Lazarus Long is so in love with life that he simply refuses to die. Born in the early 1900s, he lives through multiple centuries, his love for time ultimately causing him to become his own ancestor. Time Enough for Loveis his lovingly detailed account of his journey through a vast and magnificent timescape of centuries and worlds. Using the voice of Lazarus, Heinlein expounds his own philosophies, including his radical ideas on sexual freedom.

Revolt in 2100

After the fall of the American Ayatollahs (as foretold in Stranger in a Strange Land) there is a Second American Revolution; for the first time in human history there is a land with Liberty and Justice for All.

Friday

Friday, a secret courier, is thrown into an assignment under the command of her employer, a man she knows only as "Boss." She operates from and over a near-future Earth in North America, a vulgar and chaotic land comprised of dozens of independent states. In America's disunion, Friday keeps her balance nimbly with quick, expeditious solutions as she conquers one calamity and scrape after another.

Sixth Column

The totalitarian East has triumphed in a massive invasion, and the United States has fallen to a dictatorial superpower bent on total domination. That power is consolidating its grip through concentration camps, police state tactics, and a total monopoly upon the very thoughts of the conquered populace. A tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers survives, unbeknownst to America’s new rulers. It’s six against six million - but those six happen to include a scientific genius, a master of subterfuge and disguise who learned his trade as a lawyer-turned-hobo, and a tough-minded commander....

The Rolling Stones

One of Heinlein's best-loved works, The Rolling Stones follows the rollicking adventures of the Stone family as they tour the solar system. It doesn't seem likely for twins to have the same middle name. Even so, it's clear that Castor and Pollux Stone both have "Trouble" written in that spot on their birth certificates. Of course, anyone who's met their grandmother Hazel would know they came by it honestly.

The Puppet Masters

At key points throughout North America, an invasion force is taking over communications, government, industry, and people's bodies. And the nation is helpless to stop it, because the invaders multiply far faster than they can be destroyed, controlling the mind of every unsuspecting person they encounter. Enter Sam Cavanaugh, a can-do intelligence officer for the United States' most secret service. Cavanaugh is the only man who can stop the invaders. But to do that he'll have to be invaded himself.

Job: A Comedy of Justice

After firewalking in Polynesia, fundamentalist minister Alexander Hergensheimer never saw the world the same. Now called Alec Graham, he was in the middle of an affair with his stewardess, Margrethe, and natural disasters kept following them. First, there was an impossible iceberg that wrecked the ship in the tropics; then, after being rescued by a Royal Mexican plane, they were hit by a double earthquake. To Alex, the signs were clear that Armageddon and the Day of Judgment were near.

Assignment in Eternity

Robert A. Heinlein is widely and justly regarded as the greatest practitioner of the art of science fiction who has ever lived. Here are two of his greatest short novels: Gulf, in which the greatest super-spy of them all is revealed as the leader of a league of supermen and women who can’t quite decide what to do with the rest of us. And Lost Legacy, in which it is proved that we are all members of that league - or would be, if we but had eyes to see.

I Will Fear No Evil

As startling and provocative as his famous Stranger in a Strange Land, here is Heinlein’s grand masterpiece about a man supremely talented, immensely old, and obscenely wealthy who discovers that money can buy everything.

Waldo & Magic, Inc.

North Power Air is in trouble. Their aircraft are crashing at an alarming rate and no one can figure out the cause. Desperate for an answer, they turn to Waldo, a crippled misanthropic genius who lives in a home in orbit around Earth, where the absence of gravity means that his feeble muscle strength does not confine him helplessly in a wheelchair. But Waldo has little reason to want to help the rest of humanity - until he learns that the solution to Earth’s problems also holds the key to his own.

Publisher's Summary

When Rod Walker decides to take the final test for “Deacon” Matson’s interplanetary survival course, he knows he will be facing life-or-death situations on an unsettled planet. What he doesn’t expect is that something will go wrong with the “Tunnel in the Sky” and he and his fellow students will not be able to return to Terra. Stranded on a hostile planet, Rod and his friends are faced wit the challenge of carving a civilization out of the wilderness. They must deal with hunger, deprivation, and strangely savage beasts. But the bigger question is, can they survive each other? This science fiction classic pits a savage world against the most untamable beast of all: the human animal. Chock full of high adventure, futuristic speculation, witty repartee, and profound philosophy, Tunnel in the Sky represents the greatest SF writer of all time at the peak of his powers.

What made the experience of listening to Tunnel in the Sky the most enjoyable?

Thirty-four years ago, a 16-year old boy set out on a 4-day bus trip to spend the summer with his uncle. Four hours into the trip, he was bored as bored can be. There were no smart phones or game boys to keep his interested, so when the bus stopped for a 15-minute break, the young boy went looking for a Mad magazine to read.

He didn't find one. What he did was a rotating metal rack with paperback novels in it. Quickly scanning the rack, he noticed the cover of one book and it somewhat grabbed his attention.

This surprise him, as he was never one to read a book and rebuffed his father's attempts to get him interested in reading.

Looking on the back, he quickly read what the novel was about. "It was a test. It was only a test." This grabbed his attention, so he bought the novel.

Thirty-four years later, he's a voracious reader of (mainly) Science Fiction and it all started with A Tunnel In The Sky.

Even at the age I am now, I love to read this novel every four or five years. It's truly a classic that grabs the imagination. It's more than science fiction - that's merely the backdrop to this novel. It's actually more a study of human behaviour ... it's akin to "Lord of the Flies".

This book is classic Heinlein. Yes, it is marketed as a young adult novel but it never feels juvenile. Great adventure story. This is early Heinlein which I consider better than a lot of his later works.

Picked this up after reading the interview with Andy Weir at the end of The Martian. Thought it was dated in places, most notably the way it treats gender roles. Interesting concept, pretty quick read. Lord of the Flies meets Hunger Games. I cannot recommend the Audible...it's a cast recording which is fine, but didn't like the way it was produced--it feels dated and some of the performances are distracting.

This novel brought back a flood of memories about my enjoyment of sci-fi via the public library, in the early 1960s. Tunnel in the Sky was one of the most enjoyable sci-fi novels I read as a pre-teenager.

What did you like best about this story?

The difficulties of establishing a basic, functional civilization under primitive conditions, without the support of modern "conveniences" are shown to be very challenging.

Which scene was your favorite?

The final scenes where only a few people remained on the alien planet were especially revealing and almost overwhelming.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but it was also enjoyable in installments.

Any additional comments?

This is surely one of Heinlein's best novels, and was more enjoyable since it doesn't overwhelm the reader with his personal political views.

I love this book! This is one of my favorite books by the Grandmaster. I have been waiting for this to be made into audio for years! I am disappointed that it's full cast audio ... but you can't have everything! Now all we are missing is Space Cadet and all of the Grandmaster's best books will be in audio format.

This story is fantastic, a much better contemporary alternative to the Lord of the Flies, and a similar premise but different take on something like The Hunger Games.

The full audiocast production feels a little halting and awkward because of Heinlein's tendency to not use contractions ("do not" instead of "don't") and full cast recordings always take a little time to get used to, but its well worth it by the end!

I remember reading this book as a child. The remembered some of the story. I had forgotten the title and spend several years trying to find the book again. So I was really pleased to find it again. It is still great story and very good narration and casting.

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Aaron

Dallas, TX

8/16/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Stellar Performance of a Sci-Fi Classic"

What did you like most about Tunnel in the Sky?

The great thing about any FCA production is found in the name of the company itself - each audiobook is recorded with a full cast voicing individual characters. Even while retaining its novelized format, each character's dialogue (and written, internal, iand memorial monologues) is given its own distinct sound by a different actor, which really lends to the overall experience. (My only critique - and this is purely a matter of taste - falls on the main character, who I didn't feel had the right voice, but he was easy and quick to get used to hearing.)

I'm a long time fan of Heinlein, and though this is not what I would consider his best work, it still shines as one of the finest pieces of juvenile fictional literature available today. It is not without its flaws and need for critiques, especially given some of its outdated language and notions, but these really only serve to highlight what kind of groundbreaking author Heinlein really was.

[POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON]

For example, from a feminist perspective, the number of named and central and significant peripheral women of the story more or less balance with the males. It is my opinion that they are well written, well rounded and filled out as characters, certainly no more or less than their male counterparts, and definitely more so than much of the mainstream works of the genre even today, much less going back to the time period in which it was written (1950's America).

The story manages to make male and female characters alike well diversified, challenging one-track ideas of masculinity and femininity, while acknowledging their existence. (For example, while there is plenty of machismo and emphasis on strength and aggression in the male characters, the same is also true of the women, and this is in keeping with the theme of the plot where a wilderness survival test is the primary setting. However, the main character himself is not disposed toward violence or domination at all, and spends a good portion of the story playing second fiddle to a much less competent male. One female spends a significant period of time playing an androgynous masculine character until her point is proved and she can drop her superficial gender play, at which point her female strength is emphasized even more. Most of the characters - male and female alike - end up married by the end of the book. These partnerships are formed for a number of different reasons, however, and do not equate to what I would call one-sided power structures, nor do they form just because "they fell in love and/or wanted to have sex."

It is significant that although romantic and sexual relationships are acknowledged (and the latter very specifically sanctioned only in the context of both ritually and legally instated married partnership) they do not form part of the core plot, nor are they even more than merely another factor for the main character to consider when interacting with his fellows.

One final note, I must admit to: I was initially drawn to this novel by its cover, which shows the main character depicted in his "proper ethnicity." In other words, I was intrigued by a scifi novel with a non-white protagonist. If these sorts of things matter to you, then I definitely recommend this book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Tunnel in the Sky?

[SPOILER!!] The moment in which Jack's gender is revealed will always stick with me.

Any additional comments?

I 100% recommend it over "Lord of the Flies" as an essential read for high schoolers in a class that wants to explore and discuss human nature in the context of the "young people cut off from civilization" allegory!!!

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